Teacher admits stealing GCSE papers

A teacher today admitted stealing five GCSE maths papers from a school in Croydon.

Farzana Akbar, 46, pleaded guilty to the theft of the exam papers when she appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates Court in London.

Akbar, of Motspur Park, Surrey, taught community languages at Archbishop Lanfranc School in Croydon, Surrey, and had worked at the school for 13 years.

She was arrested in June after it was claimed pupils were shown a paper on the eve of their exam. The Metropolitan Police raided a private tutorial college after reports that students were being guided through the maths exam before taking it.

Akbar was today given unconditional bail and will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court in London on a date to be fixed.

Archbishop Lanfranc headteacher David Clark said it was a "huge breach of trust" from someone who had been respected by colleagues, pupils and parents.